Weekend Assignment #30: Bye-Gone TV
Holy cow, it's week 30 of the Weekend Assignment! Where does the time go? By this time, you probably don't need me to tell you how it works, but I do anyway, every week: I suggest a topic for you to write about in your AOL Journal or blog, and then you do, and come back to leave a link here so the rest of us can see what you have to say. Pretty easy.
This week we have another reader suggested topic, offered by NZforMe:
"With the upcoming New Fall TV Line-Up, I get to thinking about the last Golden Age of Television (whenever the heck THAT was).
"Assignment: What gone, but not forgotten, TV series do you miss the most?
Extra Credit: If you had to be on a game show or reality show, which one would it be?"
Dear John,
Isn'€™t it fun being in a swing state? Don'€™t you just love the calls, the ads on radio and television, the knocks at the door, the virtual assaults as you enter a supermarket? Had enough of the Democrats'€™ attack ads? Heard enough Republican baloney vilifying the Dems to last a lifetime? I have. I just want this election over with - and the first candidate for Congress who supports Presidential Campaign limits of 6 months has my vote - even if it'€™s the candidate from the Communist Party!
Seriously though, I hear tell you need to take a bit of a hiatus to finish up the Sci-Fi Movie Book. Dang! I was so hoping you'€™d participate in NaNoBlogMo this year, too. Sadly, it will be November. What rotten timing that is.
We'€™ve been doing the "frost is on the pumpkin" thang. And truly, I am not thrilled with waiting until the interior temperature falls below 60ยบ to fire up a heater, but with kerosene at $2.29/gallon, what are you going to do? That price is up by 50¢ over the starting price last year. It'€™s going to be an unpleasant winter for those of us on fixed incomes this year. I don'€™t suppose Dubya or Kerry will go cold this winter, or do without food, medicine or other necessities in order to stay warm enough to survive, do you? Bah! Enough, already. The rich get richer and the poor take it up the purse so the rich can enjoy their vichyssoise.
So you want to know what TV show I miss the most, eh? Well, I was a child of the fifties and early sixties. I miss the Ed Sullivan Show. I miss watching all of the comics of the day deliver their punch lines before a crowd of millions, the easy access to the show stoppers on Broadway, the clips of current first-run movies, interviews with stars, dancing of all sorts, "specials" like Victor Borgia or the Beatles, Topo Giggio, Mr. Wenceslas, Sherry Lewis and Lamb chop, the great mimes and jugglers and high-wire acts. There is nothing like it on television today. All attempts at bringing back "variety shows" (and there have been many) have failed because they lack the quintessential ingredient: Ed Sullivan himself. He was an impresario of the first order, an old Vaudevillian who understood show business and the needs of the audience above all else. Without a star-maker of his stature and acuity, all variety shows are doomed to failure from the start, so why bother? I have fond memories of Sunday nights as a little boy, fresh from a bath, in pajamas and robe, seated on the floor in front of the tube with our Mother and, occasionally, with our Father, too. First came the Wonderful World of Disney at seven o'clock. At eight, it was The Ed Sullivan Show. It was a regular part of the week to hear Ed pass along some interesting show biz news of the week past and then listen to him introduce his first act of the evening.
Not every act was a hit, of course. I have seen Ed at a total loss for words as a result of a particularly bad outing on the boards of the Sullivan Theater. Malaprops were always lurking in the wings to trip up Ed. As I grew older and could appreciate the nuances more, it became fun just waiting for that slip of the brain or the tongue to trip him up and leave him looking bewildered.
The end of the show signalled bedtime for bozos at our house, so naturally, I hated to see it come. It saddens me even now as I sit and type this missive to think that another glorious weekend has come to an end - the Ed Sullivan Show is over. There's school tomorrow. What a rotten feeling. Ugh!
So there you have it - my nomination for nostalgic television and the source of a big hole in our lives left by the permanent end of the show.
Give Krissy and Athena solid kisses from us all and behave yourself. Knuckle down and knock out those 30,000 words you're facing by Thanksgiving. We need you to go out on tour for Old Man's War in December and January!
Keep your powder dry; it doesn't work near as well as it should when it gets wet.
Grins and grimaces,
Wil
P.S. I can see, if I really had to go on TV, going on to play Lingo. But if you're asking which "lost touch with reality" show would I do (nothing at all like a game show), then my answer would be the original of the current crop - Survivor. I might be eliminated early on due to physical limitations and my irascible personality, but I do know how to survive in the wilderness. After years of female bosses, I know I can survive the petty B.S. that goes on within these "tribes" without killing someone with my bare hands. But then again, eine kleine nacht murder might be just what the ratings needed. Hmmm...
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